1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera comprising a photographic lens assembly having a plurality of focal lengths, and more particularly to a camera including a main lens component and auxiliary lens components movable into a photographic optical path provided by the main lens component to establish compound focal lengths different from a focal length of the main lens component.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The above camera on its own provides different focal lengths for taking photographs having different perspectives and compositions with ease. Particularly a wide variety of small cameras have been developed to enable diverse expressions with an increasingly simplified operation.
Existing examples of this type include a camera with the focal length variable in two stages, which is known as bifocal camera. The bifocal camera is capable of standard photography and wide angle photography with an auxiliary lens component, in combination with a main lens component, providing a shorter compound focal length than a focal length of the main lens component, or of standard photography and telephotography with an auxiliary lens component, in combination with the main lens component, providing a compound longer focal length than the focal length of the main lens component.
In either case, however, the bifocal camera has a photographic lens systems providing two focal lengths, and hence only limited variations in the perspective and construction. On the other hand, it is desirable in actual photo-taking to be capable of readily taking photographs with photographic purposes according to various photographic conditions, such as closeup portraits, shots of groups of people, and long shots of scenery.